Dinner had reached the salad, and all was well.

Yes, and a little more than well.
From the moment she stood in the doorway of Ann's room and the girl rose at her suggestion of dinner, Katie's courage had gone up.

Ann's whole bearing told that she was on her mettle.

And what Katie found most reassuring was less the results of the effort Ann was making than her unmistakable sense of the necessity for making it.

There was hope in that.
Not that she suggested anything so hopeless as effort.